Last week my high school had a reunion. I went despite the long trip and I didn’t regret it. I met old friends,teachers,girlfriends and boyfriends. We all had a good laugh talking about stories through our high school years. People talked about how they stole street signs in broad daylight and others talked about stunts they pulled to impress friends or crushes.
I met with my old group of friends. Isaac,Aisha,Grey,and Izzy. We all had brought bottles of alcohol that we sipped as we talked about what troublesome we got into. Grey at some point left to see his old teacher,leaving the rest of us to discuss further memories.
I think Aisha brought it up first. She blinked slowly and her eyes were half open in a sleepy drunken way, she said
“Does anyone remember Hecate Aoife?”
We fell silent,not because we had bad memories of her,but because we couldn’t remember a damn thing about her. We gave looks and scowled as we tried to remember her. Finally Izzy spoke up.
“That tall girl I walked around town with?” Aisha clapped happily,
“Yes! She was scary as hell,I remember you use to get looks for walking with her,”
Isaac spoke up next,
“Wasn’t there a story,or article about her? Can’t remember what but-“ he yawned and didn’t say anything,as if his drunken state had made him forget he was saying anything.
“Yeah,let me search it up,” Aisha giggled and pulled out her phone,Izzy was looking into nothing slightly smiling as if thinking of her fondly. She then bore a strong frown,or… Look of terror? She possibly was upset or unsettled by something and she began to shift uncomfortably.
“Yeah it says right hear, ‘Local school is shocked by a girl falling forty feet head first into the ground. Only to walk away fine,’ Weird story. I think five people watched her jump. Grey is one of them. I don’t remember the others.”
She put her phone away and began conversation with someone walking by,she was social like that. Always has been. Izzy still looked upset,her brow was furrowed and her mouth rested in her palm. I got up and sat next to her,
“Something wrong?” I asked,
“Huh?” Her face immediately loosened up and she looked somewhere off into the woods.
“No,no,I was just thinking about… Y’know,her,” she looked me in the eyes and asked, “Do you remember anything about her yourself?”
“No not really,I think Grey dated her maybe..? But I can’t be sure. I think you were her best friend,why isn’t she here?” I asked harmlessly but this seemed to upset her.
“You heard what Aisha said,”
“What? The fake story somebody told to spook a small town? Yeah,I heard it. It’s a load of shit,”
I laughed,but Izzy kept her stone face look.
“It’s real,” she persisted,but I didn’t believe her. I told her it wasn’t real and she got frustrated. She stood up and walked away. Aisha took notice,
“Jeez,who pissed in her cereal,”
“Well,in this case me,” I responded.
“Wow,what’d you say?”
I told her how adamant she was the article about Hecate was true,and how I persisted it was fake. Aisha took and sip and turned to the person she convinced to stay with us. They spoke a language I couldn’t understand and then she turned to me,
“I think it’s real,Izzy thinks it’s real,Grey thinks it’s real,he thinks it’s real,” she nodded her head toward the guy sitting next to her. Her face became serious,strangely serious for someone who’s drunk.
“Ok,well I don’t,and unless there’s solid proof I won’t believe it.” I walked into the school,slightly irritated they’d believe such story.
I strolled around the school seeing familiar faces,and looking for Grey. For some reason I wanted to hear what he had to say. He believed the story,and he had dated her. So I considered whatever story he had reliable.
I found him at the back entrance of the school talking to a teacher. I approached them and waited for their conversation to end. Once it did,I immediately asked the question I was there for.
“Hey… So,I heard you believe that myth Hecate survived a forty foot drop?” I worded it stupidly I know,but I was drunk so don’t make fun of me.
“Oh yeah,I was actually there,” he said as he adjusted his glasses and looked off somewhere.
“Really?” I said in amusement, “What happened exactly?” He was about to start but I guess he took note of the time and whipped out a card.
“This has my business number on it. I’ll call you later,I’ll explain it later,BYYEEEE!!!” And with that he ran off. I sat there for a bit,and noticed the quiet of the school,seemingly empty as others drove off to go back home after the reunion.
After most of my friends drove off I finally went back home myself,I had a hotel checked out since I lived a few states away. As I drove back I memorized Grey’s business number and planned to call him while I drove to the hotel,but Izzy called me before I could.
I was slightly annoyed but I answered it none the less.
“Hello?”
“Hi Izzy! What’cha calling me for?”
“Oh,well,I wanted to talk to you about earlier,”
“Mhm,” I answered without a second thought,
“Well,I already told you this story but I don’t think you remember,”
“Mhm..?” I answered again,
“I don’t want you to be annoyed,this is quite the lengthy story so I hope you’ll listen,”
“Izzy just get on with it,” I replied,
“Right,okay okay. So I think in my last year of high school I spent the night at her house. I can’t remember why,I think I got in an argument with my mom. But that’s not important. I went to spend to stay at least a week at her house,and she happily obliged
When I got over there I noticed weird things as soon as I walked in,she had barely any furniture and no food in her refrigerator. She really had no food in general. She was like one of the most extreme minimalists ever. She didn’t have a bed frame,nor anything in her room. She also lived alone,I don’t know how. I don’t think it was legal to live alone at that age.
I didn’t even think I got halfway through the week before I went back home and the memory is clear as to why,it haunts me to this day. I have night terrors about it. It was an uncomfortable morning and she said she was gonna talk a shower,I was half asleep so I think she felt more comfortable doing what she did.
As I was falling back asleep I heard a thump, I got up instantly and she her thick black hair poking out from underneath the bathroom. I thought she fell or something so I looked under the door and… I saw….”
She gagged and began with her story again,
“I saw millions of maggots spilling from her severed neck,I- it was-“
She stopped and grabbed something,probably to puke in,and I heard repulsed noises as she cleared the alcohol from her system.
“Yeah,she uh- She wasn’t exactly alive,she picked up her head like it was nothing and I heard the maggots being crushed as I can only assume she put her head back on,I immediately collected all my things and told her I was going back home,she was asking me something but I couldn’t hear what. Probably asking why but yeah,I can’t handle the thought of it.”
I heard her clear her throat and she responded,
“So yeah,that’s the story,sorry if it sounds unbelievable but it’s true and it haunts me. Haunts me every day of my damn life. I- sorry,I gotta go,” and with that she hung up the phone. I was left thinking about the events.
I still didn’t believe it. Though the gagging noises coming from her it sounded like she had really experienced it,quite convincing actually.
I arrived at my hotel and got to my room. I looked at the card Grey had given me and decided to give him a call.
I lay with one arm behind my head and waited for him to pick up,it didn’t take long.
“Hey! Grey! I see you’re still awake,”
“And so are you,” he said laughing
“Yeah,I don’t know if you remember but you wanted to talk to me about Hecate?”
“You,”
“YOU wanted to talk to me about Hecate,”
“Yeah,yeah that doesn’t really matter,I just wanna know what happened,that day… You saw her? Fall of the cliff I mean?”
“Yeah,bloody hell,I remember it like the back of my hand. Of course I do,I wish I had the trauma response of forgetting it. But I don’t and I remember it ever so often,I’m still in therapy because of it.”
He paused and did something.
“Around the last day of school Hecate wanted to show me and a few others something,Izzy too. She gathered us around the cliff,and jumped. That simply. Without a moment of hesitation,she jumped,and without a moment of hesitation I looked. And she was already walking away with her mangled body parts. That’s really all good night,” and with that he hung up and left me confused. He hurried the story so easily it didn’t feel like it was real. It didn’t feel as traumatic as Izzy’s. I lay pondering the stories for so long before deciding to go to sleep.
My dream wasn’t exactly a dream,more like a memory I had long forgotten. It started with me walking through the woods. Drawing and writing things down. I eventually came across a disgusting pond. I remember what it looked like clearly. Maggots swimming through the water in pitch black goo,while gnats and flies swam around it. The smell was putrid. Like the smell of a corpse that had been decaying in warm water for a while. I vomited in my dream,before stumbling through the woods to find my way out.
As I was looking for it I notices a slightly black and red slime that trailed somewhere. I followed it stupidly,and noted evey land mark incase I found myself there again. I followed the trail more and stumbled as the smell lingered in my nose. Then I’d finally seen it.
I couldn’t tell what it was at first,with the mass of hair and pale skin I thought I was looking at a still body but it couldn’t be,as it was standinging up. I then guessed an asylum escapee. Completely nude and bleeding but not making a noise. It stared for a few minutes before it turned to look at me.
It was Hecate,wide glossy black eyes filled with no emotions. Staring at me. Contorted limbs that hung low toward the ground in mangled broken ways like a broken stick hanging on by bark. There was a glint of light on a thin material.
Thread,the damn creature was sewing itself back together. She pulled the needle,and her arms rolled back together. The slimy sound of thread passing through flesh echoed through my ear.
She bit off the thread and her arm cracked as she moved it as if to make sure it was sturdy. I then noticed multiple patterns of threads covering her body like Frankenstein’s monster. She stood for a moment,standing a few yards away and then she hobbled toward me.
She hobbled until five inches stood between us. She stood roughly one and a half feet taller than me. And opened her arms,leaned down,and hugged me. Her body was freezing. She stood there for a few moments before turning around and walking into the woods,as elegantly as a deer.
When woke up I was sweating. I felt uncomfortable and nauseous. I thought about the dream,about the pitch black lake,about the towering creature,about the elegant walk it took into the woods. I felt relieved somewhat. I lay in bed,staring at the ceiling. So now I’m here. Finishing up her story. To anyone who reads this. Please,continue the story of Hecate Aoife.